Lonely & Frozen Hearted
by Disneyfanboy12
Summary: He stepped in front and took the hit. Now Kristoff's paying the price. Can he find true love and be saved? Or will he freeze into an icy statue?
1. Chapter 1

**Here's that new story I was talking about. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Frozen, it's characters, and everything related is owned by The Walt Disney Animation Studios.**

* * *

Kristoff stood outside the ice castle admiring every little detail, from every curve to every edge. Ice was his life! Why couldn't he take a peek inside? Just because Anna needed a little space to talk to her sister? Pshh. Okay, that was being insensitive; even though he had almost no people skills, he knew barging in there while the sisters sorted things out would be completely wrong. But it was a castle made of ice! ICE!

While he was deciding what to do, he heard Olaf yell, "Sixty!" Kristoff then remembered that Olaf was counting a minute; Anna had said to wait for a minute and Olaf had taken it literally.

The little snowman ran towards the icy structure. "Wait, Olaf!" Kristoff called, but too late; Olaf was already inside. Kristoff sighed loudly, until an idea hit him. Maybe he could use the excuse of getting Olaf out to take a look inside. He looked at Sven, who was at the bottom of the icy staircase, as if asking him if that was a good excuse.

"Make sure to tell me how it looks!" Kristoff said in Sven's voice. He nodded and proceeded through the double doors.

When he entered, his heart skipped a beat and he caught his breath.

It was unlike anything he had ever seen before: A frozen fountain greeted him when he entered the structure. Not one, but two curved staircases came in from either side of the palace. Looking up at the ceiling, he saw the snowflake design covering its whole. It was absolutely beautiful. When he said he might cry, this time he meant it. Hell, he might die right now from his excitement! He began to walk again, smiling like an idiot while taking in every detail of the castle from the inside, from the designs on the ceiling to the distance between the doors to the stairs.

He was speechless and completely entranced, but was broken from his trance when he heard what sounded like an argument – but instead of hollering, they were... singing? He grew curious.

"What am I doing? I'm standing in an ice paradise and I'm wondering about what's going on between them?" he thought to himself. But his curiosity got the better of him, when he heard what sounded like a blizzard upstairs. Cautiously, he began creeping up the stairs; with every step he took, the chill increased. Finally, he saw what was happening. Anna and her sister were in the middle of a snow storm, arguing about going back to Arendelle – and it seemed like Elsa was really worried and ticked off. He began to worry; not for himself, but for Anna. He knew and felt like something bad was going to happen, and that he needed to get her out of there. But that's when it happened.

"I CAN'T!" Elsa screamed and she hurled a wave of ice in agitation. Without thinking, Kristoff sprinted towards Anna, yelling, "Anna, watch out!" He pushed her out of the way in time, but was not quick enough to dodge the blast himself.

"Ah!" Kristoff exclaimed in pain, holding on to his chest. It felt like his blood was freezing, running through his veins, and beginning to spread throughout his body. It was an extreme coldness that he had never experienced before, not even when he harvested ice on the coldest day of winter. Suddenly, it ceased, and his warmth returned.

"Kristoff!" Anna yelled, running with Olaf over to the fallen mountain man. His breath was coming in short little gasps of air. "Ar-are you okay?" Anna asked, concern written all over her face.

"Yeah. I'm fine," he breathed. "...I'm fine," he repeated getting off the ground.

"Who's this?" Elsa asked, completely stunned by the turn of events. A few seconds ago, it had been just her and Anna; now, some man was on the floor panting for air. He looked like he was... in a bit of pain. This was exactly why she had come up here in the first place: so she wouldn't hurt anyone. "Anna, you have to go," Elsa said quietly but firmly. Her little was sister was leaving whether she wanted to or not.

"No! I'm not leaving without you!" Anna insisted.

It hurt Elsa deeply that her sister had come here to get her, only to get thrown out. It also hurt to have to say this: "Yes, you are." She waved her hands and the ground began to rumble. Anna and Kristoff staggered back, almost losing their footing. From the ground arose a 50-foot-tall snowman that roared at them.

"I don't like this place anymore," Kristoff thought to himself in fear.

The next thing they knew, Anna, Olaf, and Kristoff were getting thrown out of the castle - literally thrown, like rag dolls. Kristoff stood up, rubbing his head, his brain feeling rattled. Anna got up, grabbed some snow, and formed a snowball, yelling at the 50 foot monster, "It is not nice to throw people!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy there, feisty pants. Hey, calm down. Just let the snowman be." Kristoff said grabbing her from behind trying to restrain her.

"But he-"

"He's leaving us alone."

"Fine. Fine."

"You calm? You good?"

"Yeah. I'm calm."

"Great." Kristoff sighed in relief. He let her go, confident that she was indeed fine. But turning his back on her was a huge mistake.

"Ahh!" Anna cried, throwing the snowball to the giant snow monster.

"Oh, c'mon!"

The snowball hit the snowman, a soft little plop. Kristoff hoped that it didn't feel it, but just like he was with Anna, he was wrong. The giant stopped in its tracks and looked at the spot where it was hit. It then turned around and roared loudly, deafening their ears. "See now you made him angry." Kristoff told Anna.

"I'll distract him. You guys go." Olaf said, waving his arms. Kristoff grabbed Anna's arm and began to run.

They kept running until Kristoff stopped them, yelling, "Look out!"

They almost fell down a cliff – a fall of 200 feet. It was a good thing Kristoff knew this place well, because if not, they would've been falling to their possible deaths. He quickly tied a rope around his and Anna's waist and began to dig a snow anchor. "Alright, Anna. On three, we jump."

"Okay."

Kristoff took a deep breath. He was not prepared for this, but it was something he had to do. ''One.'' he began to count. ''Two.'' right before he could count three Anna jumped over the cliff. "What the-" Kristoff felt himself falling down. He closed his eyes and expected to feel the 20 feet of snow hit him hard. But instead they had stopped in the middle of the air. No, correction. They were being lifted up. "Oh no. Please, God no." Kristoff pleaded. But his fear was confirmed when he opened his eyes. He was looking right at the 50-foot-snowman's face.

"No Marshmallow! No!'' it was Olaf. The little snowman took hold of the bigger one's leg. "This isn't making a difference is it?" Marshmallow, as Olaf had called him, kicked Olaf off his leg, sending the little guy down the cliff.

"Olaf!" Anna called.

"Hold on guys!" He responded while falling down.

Kristoff, though, kept his gaze on Marshmallow the whole time. "Uh…. Hi," Kristoff said, with a nervous chuckle.

"Don't come back!" yelled Marshmallow.

"No problem!" Kristoff said quickly, cutting the rope.

They began freefalling and screaming, with Kristoff silently praying for survival. When they hit the ground, it hurt much less than expected. But at the same time, the icy feeling Kristoff got when he'd been hit by Elsa's ice powers returned.

He sat up, and Olaf requested, "Could you get my butt for me?" Kristoff retrieved Olaf's bottom half and fixed him up. Anna was next to him, half her body buried under the snow.

"Here. Let me help you up." He pulled her out of the snow, but she kept yelping in pain. "Where are you hurt?" Kristoff asked in concern.

"My arm. I think I broke it." She responded, wincing in pain.

"Alright, I know where I should-"

"Your hair!" Anna exclaimed.

Kristoff gave her a quizzical look. "What about it?"

"It's white!"

"Well, we did just fall 200 feet onto snow. I mean, look at your-"

"No. I mean like-" Anna grabbed her braid and pointed to the streak of platinum blonde in it.

"Wait what? No way. You're hallucinat-" That's when he saw it. The hair that hung over his eyes had turned from blonde to white in a flash. His eyes widened to saucers. "What the hell? Does it look bad?" he asked wildly.

"Uh..." she paused, "no."

"You hesitated," Olaf called from behind them.

Kristoff shook his head. They'd deal with his hair changing later. Right now, Anna was more important. "Forget it, just come with me," he said as they went to find Sven.

* * *

As they walked toward a valley under the North Mountain, Kristoff grew nervous – really nervous.

"Alright. Anna, I don't want to scare you, but you're going to meet my family. They can be inappropriate, loud – very loud, actually – stubborn, over bearing, really heavy, but they mean well. They really-"

"Kristoff! It's okay. They sound wonderful." Anna said giving him a reassuring smile.

He sighed. He was still nervous, because he knew how his family was and introducing her to them was going to be a horrible experience for him. "We're almost there," he said to Anna, who nodded. She had been gripping her arm the whole way, so he knew that it was causing her a lot of pain. After a while, they got to a landing full of rocks.

"Okay, here's my family!" Kristoff said, walking over to the boulders. He started to greet and compliment them. Anna looked at him incredulously.

"He's craaazy!" Olaf whispered loudly to her. "Anna, because I love you, I insist you run." Olaf went over and began greeting the rocks as well. She stood there, her mind still trying to make sense of this. "Why aren't you running?" Olaf asked. Right then the ground started to rumble. The rocks were coming to life! They unrolled from balls into... trolls!

"Kristoff's home!" One of the trolls said excitedly.

"And he brought a girl!" Another pointed out. Cheers erupted from the crowd and they soon grabbed Anna to bring her to the front.

"Hey, careful with her! Her arm is hurt!" Kristoff called out in worry. He felt a tug on his arm and he looked down. He saw one of the kid trolls who asked "What's with the hair?"

"Don't worry about it," Kristoff responded. "Where's Grand Pabbie?" he asked.

"He's napping. He should be up soon, though," the little troll responded.

Kristoff turned his attention back to Anna. "Mom! Be careful with her!" He cried.

His adoptive mother, Bulda, was checking Anna's nose, teeth and eyes. "Oh, hush! We're just checking on her. Strong teeth. Working nose. Yes, she'll do nicely for our Kristoff!" she declared.

"Oh, no. You have it all wrong. We're not-" Anna started, but was interrupted by Bulda.

"Oh honey, why are you holding back from such a man?" The trolls spent the next few minutes trying to convince Anna and Kristoff that they were meant to be.

Until, that is, Kristoff had had enough. "Stop! Enough! She has a fiancé!" He yelled abruptly, ending the trolls' barrage. "Look, I came here for Grandpappy. Not so you guys can gush about love." Just as he said that, another troll came towards Anna and him. When it unrolled, it was revealed to be an elderly troll with big amber eyes and a graying blonde mane. "Thank you. Finally, I was looking for you, Pabbie," Kristoff said, more than relieved to see the troll for whom he was looking. "Look, Pabbie, I think her arm is broken, and-"

"Kristoff, give me your hands." The elderly troll commanded.

"What?" Kristoff asked, confused.

"I sensed dark magic here in the valley. It was coming from you." Pabbie explained, waiting for Kristoff to give him his hands.

"O-okay? Um, whatever you say." Kristoff placed his hands in Grand Pabbie's. He watched as the troll's face scrunched up in disbelief. "Why- what? What's going on?" Kristoff asked, fear engulfing him. The icy pain came back, and he cringed. It was a lot stronger than before.

Grand Pabbie swallowed hard before responding "I fear, my boy, you have a frozen heart."

* * *

**Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**First off, I want to say sorry for the wait! I had exams and it was just crazy. But now that I'm in summer vacation, that shouldn't be a problem. So without further ado here's chapter 2**

**Frozen, it's characters, and everything related belong to the Walt Disney Company (except for the OCs I'll insert here and there) **

* * *

The words Grand Pabbie had spoken created chatter from the rest of the trolls…and judging by the sound of it, it wasn't good.

"Frozen heart? What do you mean, I have a frozen heart?" Kristoff asked frowning.

"It means that you have been struck by ice powers. When you pushed Anna aside and you got hit, your heart was frozen," Grand Pabbie clarified.

"So you mean to tell me that I have ice in my heart right now, as we speak?"

Grand Pabbie nodded slowly, confirming Kristoff's question. "If it isn't thawed soon, you will turn into ice," he added.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Take it out of me!" Kristoff demanded.

Pabbie shook his head and said, "I would, but I can't. If it were your head it would be easy, being that the head is easy to persuade. But the heart, not so much."

Kristoff glared at him, his mind racing. Several moments passed before Kristoff broke the silence. "So if you can't take it out of me, how do I get rid of it?" he asked.

"Only an act of true love can thaw the ice in your heart," Grand Pabbie answered. The trolls started to talk about a true love's kiss and the princess next to him, but he didn't hear them due to the dizziness of his head.

"What?" Kristoff asked incredulously. "I-I don't have that. Is there any other way?" he questioned relentlessly trying to find an alternative to solve the problem.

"I'm sorry Kristoff, but an act of true love is the only thing that will save you."

His head was spinning faster now. The silence was uncomfortable and unwelcome. The returning ice cold pain in his chest was even more excruciating. The princess next to him wanted to say something, but nothing came out of her mouth. Instead she grasped her hurt arm tightly. Kristoff began to walk away with his head down and shoulders slumping.

Seeing him leave her side, Anna called out for him. "Kristoff!" He stopped momentarily, before resuming his walk. He needed to get his head straight. His thoughts together. "Kristoff, please! Please wait!" Anna pleaded, walking at a fast pace to catch up with him. When she caught up, she took hold of his arm.

"What do you want?" he said, voice low and harsh.

"Kristoff, I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean for any of this to happen," she stammered. She really was sorry. She never thought this would happen. All she wanted was to bring her sister back to Arendelle and to end this eternal winter. Not to put the man who helped her life's in danger. He pulled his arm from her grip and continued to walk. When Sven tried to accompany him, to try to cheer him up, Kristoff halted him. "No Sven. I need to be alone right now." He patted his best friend on the snout and continued to walk, trying to find a quiet place.

But Anna wasn't finished. She hurried and got in front of him. "Please get out of my way Anna," Kristoff whispered.

"No. I'll help you somehow. W-we can figure this out together!"

He shook his head. "Please, just let me be right now." He took a big step around her. But he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Grand Pabbie, her arm's broken. Heal it for her," he looked over at Anna again. "When I come back, I'm taking you back to Arendelle."

Anna tried to protest, but Kristoff didn't allow her to. "Hans must be worried and so must the rest of the people of the castle. Don't worry about me."

But Anna didn't want to hear it. "No! I have to help you! This is my fault! You-"

"No, Anna!" Kristoff growled. It came out a lot louder and a lot harsher than what he intended. He felt a stab in his heart, not from the frozen heart, but for yelling at her. "No. It's not your fault," he whispered softly before again continuing his tread. Anna felt a lump form in her throat. She wanted to help him so badly, almost as much as she wanted her sister back. She blinked back the tears that were forming in her eyes, and gripped her bad arm more tightly than before. An eternity passed as she watched Kristoff disappear into the woods. The trolls were silent, but soon after started to talk about Anna and Kristoff and true love and kisses again. Grand Pabbie cleared his throat, startling Anna.

"Princess, if you may give me your arm," he politely asked. Anna gave him her arm, wincing and whimpering in pain. Pabbie gently took her arm and warned her, "This may sting a little."

Using his magic, he began healing her arm. His warning came true as well; Anna began to feel a sharp, shooting pain going up her arm. It lasted only briefly, but it still hurt a lot. It took about three minutes to fully repair her arm, but afterwards she felt weak and extremely tired. She looked at Pabbie, but was too exhausted to say anything. "Your highness, healing you is a tiring process for humans. I apologize, but you need to rest to recover the strength in your arm." He explained and she nodded weakly and with the help of the trolls, she laid down on a patch of moss, and soon was fast asleep.

* * *

_Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel._

Elsa was a complete mess. The images of the man she struck with her powers wouldn't leave her mind. She'd let her powers loose, had let her guard down, and now she'd hurt someone. Even if he was a stranger to her, she had hurt him. But if it wasn't for him, then she would've hurt Anna. Her biggest fear was avoided, but the way Anna rushed to his side, the way she spoke to him in worry. _"At least it wasn't Hans,"_ her mind told her. Hans was Anna's love. But the way she treated the iceman, you could've been fooled.

_Conceal, don't feel._

Her emotions were mixed and she was completely unstable. She tried breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth to calm down, but it made her nerves tense up even more. _How could you live with yourself? After all these years, you still can't control yourself? What did I do to deserve this?_

_Conceal, don't feel._

_What had happened to letting go? Where did I go wrong? Get it together Elsa!_

Her mind raced a thousand miles an hour, her heart beating extremely fast. Fear, doubt, self-hatred were the emotions now held. She couldn't stop herself from pacing like a scared animal that was being hunted down. The temperature was dropping every single moment, making the cold weather even colder.

_What was I thinking? What would mother and father think of this?_

Memories of her parents locking her up and trying to help her control the curse came flooding in. She remembered the mantra her father had come up for her: Conceal, don't feel. Don't let them know.

She had failed. Everybody knew about her powers, she froze the kingdom, and hurt an innocent man.

_You're a failure. An atrocity. Everybody hates you._

Her mind at war and her emotions unstable.

_Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel. Conceal, don't feel!_

The stress became too much for her as she fainted and fell to the icy floor.

* * *

A couple of hours passed before Kristoff decided to head back. He had spent that time calming himself, collecting his mind. He tried to think of other ways to try and save himself, but nothing came to mind. He was frustrated. He was going to turn into ice and die, and there was nothing he could do about it. That was his final conclusion. So he decided to head back. Besides, he needed to take Anna back to the castle. He just hoped she wouldn't make a big fuss about it.

When he got there, were only two trolls and a reindeer waiting for him. The latter he was okay with, but why were Pabbie and Bulda waiting for him?

"Kristoff, honey are you okay?" asked his adoptive mother in concern.

He nodded. "Yeah mom. I'm okay," he lied. He hoped he could sell it. The look on her face said otherwise, but before she could say anything back to him, Grand Pabbie began to speak.

"Kristoff, even though I may not be able to take the ice out, I can slow it down."

Kristoff brought his gaze from the mossy ground up to the elder troll, looking through the mixture of his blonde and now white locks. He asked very quietly and very timidly, "How?"

Pabbie started to move his hands about, the ground shaking. Kristoff's first impulse was to run. After the incident with the giant snowman back at the North Mountain, he didn't trust shaking grounds. Before he took off, though, a reddish orange crystal was presented to him. He looked at it and asked, "What is this?"

"A fire crystal. It will keep you warm enough to prolong the freezing process. Perhaps, it can keep you alive long enough to find an act of true love," Grand Pabbie explained, extending his rocky hand out to Kristoff. Kristoff reached out towards the crystal slowly, afraid that it might burn him. After all, it was a fire crystal. But when his fingertips grazed its surface, he gasped at a very satisfying, very welcome warmth. He grasped it in his hand, letting the heat permeate his cold body.

After a few seconds, he felt completely warm. He walked towards Sven and looked into one of the sacks that he managed to salvage before his sled got destroyed going to the North Mountain. He found some rope. He tied it around the crystal tightly, making a loop big enough for his head. He threw it over his head and it hung on his neck, making a necklace. "Thank you," he said to Pabbie, who nodded in acknowledgment. Reality came back when he saw Anna. She was fast asleep, lying on a makeshift bed of moss. Her once-broken one arm was supported by a big (and regular) rock. One of her braids hung haphazardly over her face and her coat was taken off and draped over her body. She looked cozy…and really beautiful.

Kristoff shook the last thought out of his head. They weren't true love. He was an ice harvester and she was a princess who was engaged to a prince.

"How deep of a sleep is she in?" asked Kristoff signaling towards Anna. "She should awaken in about an hour or so," Grand Pabbie answered. The trip to Arendelle from there was about forty to fifty minutes, so if he didn't want her to wake up and get all stubborn about helping him, he had better leave now. He gently scooped her off the ground bridal-style and called Sven over. He got on top of Sven, always being mindful of Anna putting her in sitting position and grabbing her waist, and right before he commanded Sven to go, his mother came up to him.

"Mom, I need to go," he told her, trying to get her to let him go.

"Kristoff, why? Why are you taking her? Don't you see that you two are meant for each other?" Bulda fired away anyway.

Kristoff groaned, "Mom, we don't love each other. Besides, she's engaged. Just leave that fantasy alone."

Before she was able to answer him, he commanded Sven to go, which the reindeer reluctantly did.

"Bulda's right. Why are you taking her away?" Sven grunted.

"Oh no. Not you too!"

"She's your savior! She's in love with you!"

Kristoff looked at Anna's sleeping form in his arms. He wanted to hold her there in his arms forever, honestly. But he couldn't – no matter how much he wanted to, he just couldn't. So when he brought his eyes up from her, he shook his head at Sven.

"No. She isn't."

"But-"

"Stop it, Sven," he said sternly. The reindeer grunted in disapproval, but didn't say anything else the rest of the way.

* * *

Hans sat on the sofa in the library of the castle. Why was Anna taking so long? She'd left hours ago! He closed the book he was reading and went over to the window, looking at the North Mountain. "C'mon. I just need Anna to return with Elsa. When she does, I'll make her end this damned winter. I can marry Anna and then kill the Elsa, making me King," he said to himself. He smirked just at thought of being King. Since Anna had left him in charge, he had gotten a little taste of how it felt, and he loved it. After years of being the unlucky thirteenth brother, he was finally close to being the most important. Well, actually second most important, for his firstborn brother, Markus, was currently King of the Southern Isles. But nevertheless, Hans was so close to becoming the ruler of Arendelle, he could practically taste it. All he needed was the queen to be dead.

He began to grow impatient, though, and he called for two of the guards that came with him from his homeland. "Your majesty," they bowed as low as their armor would allow them.

"Jonathan. Fredrik." Hans acknowledged and they stood back up. "If Princess Anna doesn't return within the next hour, send a group to go find Queen Elsa and Queen Elsa only," he instructed.

"But sir, what about the princess?" Fredrik asked curiously.

"You know why I chose to come here, do you not?" Hans retorted at them.

"Y-Yes sir, we do. But wouldn't going after the queen and not the princess raise questions amongst the others?" Jonathan pointed out.

Hans considered this for a moment. "You're right. Go out now, just the two of you, and say that you are going to go search for her. Go far enough that you're out of sight. Then come back after an hour and tell the others that you found her body. If they ask where, tell them that you found it at the bottom of a cliff. Then collect the group and find Elsa."

"Yes sir." they turned around ready to carry out their orders, but Hans told them one last thing.

"Don't forget. Bring her here dead or alive. She's dangerous, so if you must kill, do it."

"Of course sir."

Hans nodded and they both left him in the library alone. He looked up towards the mountain again and smirked.

He was going to be King soon… and nobody was going to be able to stop him.

* * *

**Just in case y'all are wondering about the beginning when Pabbie was telling Kristoff about his heart being frozen, and when he said "When you pushed Anna out of the way and got hit" remember that in the actual movie, Pabbie also told Anna "Your sister froze your heart" so he knows exactly what happened back at the ice palace. It's a little confusing, but whatever. I write faster when I get reviews...**


	3. Chapter 3

**So I relatively quick update because I had a lot of free time and my beta is awesome! :)**

**Disclaimer: Frozen, it's characters and everything related is owned by the Walt Disney Company (except the OCs I'll put here and there)**

* * *

The ride to Arendelle was silent, only the howling of the winter wind in their ears. Thankfully, they arrived with no obstacles. No wolves, no cliffs, and no spunky and stubborn princess waking up. A few times she had stirred, but she always fell back asleep. But now, here they stood in front of Arendelle's castle gates. And sitting in front of Kristoff was the reason for going there. He got off of Sven and dismounted, carrying Anna bridal-style. His best friend grunted, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Kristoff sighed and ignored Sven. He walked up to the gates as his heart was pounding against his broad chest.

"Turn around. Forget that she's engaged and that her future husband and her servants are more than likely worried about her. Ride off into the sunset with her," was whispered in the back of his mind, desperately trying to make itself heard. He managed to push it out of his mind.

Instead, "It's better this way. She will be safe and she won't distract me," ran through his head. He fixed his hold on her and knocked on the castle gates. A few moments later, the gate opened to reveal a short, plump and middle-aged woman. She raised an eyebrow in question, but it left her expression almost immediately when she saw the Princess of Arendelle in the man's arms.

"Oh my... Princess Anna!" the woman exclaimed bringing her hands to cover her mouth.

"She's okay. She's just recovering and sleepy is all," Kristoff assured, hoping to calm her down.

"Guards! Guards! Come quickly! Princess Anna is here!" she yelled. The guards quickly ran towards them more quickly than seemingly possible in armor.

"Leave with her. She can help you," a voice was screaming in the back of his head, but he didn't listen. Anna began to shiver a little bit, but she continued sleeping. He saw this, and when he looked up he saw the guards in front of him asking for the princess, so they could bring her back into the castle's safety. He looked down at her again with a small, sad smile. She began to shiver from the cold again and he took off his hat and gently put it on her head, despite the fact that his condition demanded him to keep as warm as possible. He took a deep breath before reluctantly putting the sleeping princess into the guard's bulky arms. As he saw her being taken away from him, his heart began to yearn. He wanted to run over there and take her back. His soul felt incomplete as if his heart had a big Anna-shaped hole in it. He also felt a coldness hit him when she was taken away, one that not even the fire crystal could take warm. He stretched his arm out, wanting to touch her one last time.

"Make sure her arm's fine!" he called out to them before the gate shut in this face. "Make sure she's safe," he said to himself quietly. He turned around and began walking back to Sven. He felt an emotion he hadn't ever felt before begin to pour onto him. He hopped on Sven's back as he tried to fight it off. "C'mon buddy. Let's head back," he requested, his voice small and defeated. The emotion grew stronger and stronger with every step Sven took away from the castle – an emotion where his heart pleaded for him to go back, his body felt weak, and his soul was broken apart. An emotion where if he looked back, he would jump off and do what his very being wanted. Sven grunted again, bringing Kristoff back.

"Are you okay?" Sven questioned worriedly with his eyes.

A lump grew in Kristoff's throat. He wanted to tell Sven the truth. No, he wasn't okay. He wanted to go back and spend every single second he had left before freezing to death with Anna… to hold her and make sure she was fine, to hear her soft and perfect voice caress his ears. But he as much as he wanted to, he didn't. Instead, he looked at Sven and a very weak, miserable and almost inaudible "Yes, I'm fine" came from his lips. He tried to make out what the emotion he felt was – but deep down, he already knew what it was. No need for explaining. No need for wondering.

The emotion he was feeling was called love.

* * *

"Prince Hans!" Gerda called out. She hurried through the halls and made her way to the library. "Prince Hans!" she called once more. Hans looked up from the book he was reading and asked "May I help you, Gerda?"

"Your highness," she curtsied and quickly resumed to the topic at hand, "Princess Anna has returned!"

At this, Hans slammed his book shut again and threw onto the table next to him. "What?" he asked surprised. Gerda took a deep breath before answering again. "Princess Anna is here."

"Where is she?!" he questioned.

"In her quarters, your highness."

"Excuse me," he said, pushing past her. He ran down the hall and went up the stairs in search of her room. If she was back, he needed to notify Jonathan and Fredrik as soon as possible. He was soon standing in front of Anna's bedroom door. He took a deep breath and opened the door. And sure enough, the strawberry blonde was lying down in her bed.

"Kr-Kristoff?" she said waking up from her slumber.

Hans paused for a second. Who was this Kristoff person? He shook his head before proceeding. "No, dear. It's Hans."

"Hans? W-where am I?" Anna asked, confused.

"Your back here at the castle, darling," he sweetly answered, walking over to her bedside.

Anna's eyes widened and she quickly sat up. "Castle?! How'd I-" she trailed off, looking at Hans in bewilderment.

"I'm not sure. Gerda told me that you'd returned while I was in the library." Hans shrugged, reaching over and grabbing her hand. He began to soothingly rub circles on the back of her hand. She slumped back down and looked forward in disbelief. Moments passed before Hans asked the question that was killing him. "What of Elsa?"

Anna looked at him with sad eyes that threatened to shed tears. "S-she didn't come back. She didn't want to," was all she said, her voice wavering.

Hans narrowed his eyes at her and asked cautiously, "What do you mean by 'she didn't want to come back'? Did she do anything?"

Anna hesitated at the question. She didn't want Hans to try and go after Elsa, but at the same time she didn't want Hans not to trust her, should he find out some other way.

"Anna? Did she or did she not hurt you?" he pushed. Anna gave a small single nod and avoided looking at Hans. He shifted his position and cupped Anna's soft cheeks and made her look at him. "What did she do?"

"A man who helped me get to her, s-she froze his heart. And then she summoned a giant snowman to kick us out of her palace. And I might have hurt my arm," she whispered.

Hans's eyes widened to saucers. She froze someone's heart? "I thought you said she'd never hurt you," Hans said.

"I guess I was wrong," Anna replied to him. He gave Anna a quick kiss on the forehead and scurried out of her room. He quickly went outside and went to look for his guards. Effectively, he found them coming back; just before they were going to call for the others, Hans signaled them towards him. The guards looked at each other and went towards him confused. He led them to back the castle and into the library, shutting the door behind them. "Your Majesty?" Fredrik asked.

"Princess Anna is back. Queen Elsa, though, is not present." Hans explained.

"So does this mean we don't go after the Queen?" Jonathan asked.

"No, it means we have all the more reason to pursue her, and that you don't have to fake the princess's death," Hans said darkly.

"Your Majesty, with all due respect, what do you mean?"

"The Queen froze a man's heart. She then summoned a snow monster to attack the princess. She is dangerous. We need to end the damn winter. We need her dead!" Hans exclaimed. He calmed down a little before continuing, "Men, get your guards. As many as possible. Tell them you are all going to find Queen Elsa." The guards nodded. "And men, no matter what, I now demand that you do NOT kill her."

"May I ask why?" Fredrik asked.

"Because I want to kill her," Hans chuckled evilly. The guards each raised an eyebrow. "It'll make me look like more of a hero. I'll end this winter and kill the witch that brought it upon us." Hans clarified.

"Yes, your majesty," they said, before quickly bowing and leaving to round up the other guards.

* * *

Anna was sitting in her enormous bed and racking her brain, desperately trying to piece together the puzzle of what had just happened. But if she was being honest with herself, she knew exactly what happened. When she fell asleep, she was at the valley of the living rock and now that she had awoken, she was safely tucked away in the pink blankets of her bed. "Why'd he do this? He knew I wanted to help him!" she thought to herself. He had told her that he'd bring her back, but she didn't think he'd follow through with it. She thought she'd be wide awake when he would be back, and then she could've harass him until he had no choice but to leave her there to help. Now she was just so mad at him and, ugh, what was his problem? Couldn't he see that he needed all the help he could get? Maybe it was because of all the questionable choices she had made when she was with him. She did insist on going towards the North Mountain in the middle of the night, which left them prone to the wolf attack, which unfortunately ended with his sled blowing up. But she also promised to get him a new one! But then after, she did provoke a giant snow monster to attack. And proceeded to jump off a cliff to a fall of 200 feet before he was ready.

…Okay, she now saw why he wouldn't exactly want her help. But still! If she had that frozen heart thingy, she'd allow him to help out. "If I ever get that, I won't let him help me. That should, no that WILL, teach him," she decided. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard a small knock on her door.

"Come in," she called. The door opened to reveal Gerda holding a tray of food. The middle-aged woman tried a small curtsey, which she actually managed to do without spilling the tray, which really surprised Anna – must be all the years of experience.

"Hello, milady. I hope that I am not disturbing you," she said.

"No, you aren't," Anna assured with a smile.

Gerda nodded with a smile of her own. "Well milady, it is good to see that you are doing well."

"Me? Of course I'm doing well. Why wouldn't I be doing well? Like, all I do is well! Why wouldn't I be doing well again?" Anna rambled.

Gerda gave another small smile, amused by Anna. "Because the man that returned you said that you were recovering from something," Gerda explained and went to place the tray of food on the princess's lap.

"Oh," was all Anna said and she began to chew on the inside of her cheek. She glanced down at the tray. It was Fiskesouppe, a traditional Norwegian fish soup, filled with many vegetables. Anna was never fond of vegetables, or fish for that matter, but right now she was so hungry that she didn't really care, and she began to dig right in. The feeling of the soup warmed her belly and she could feel some of her strength being regained. But she stopped when she felt the taste of carrots in her mouth. She swallowed the mouthful slowly as she began to think about him again.

"Milady, are you okay?" Gerda asked.

"Huh?" Anna replied in surprise, her wandering mind being brought back.

"Milady, you're not eating the soup," the plump lady pointed out. It was true. While Anna was thinking about Kristoff, she had begun to mindlessly stir her soup around and bring the spoon up with some soup and then dump it back in.

"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine, I guess," Anna said awkwardly, going back to play with her soup. Gerda gave a little nod and turned around to leave the room. "Wait, Gerda?" Anna called. The said servant turned back around.

"Hm?"

Anna bit her lower lip. "Um...okay, um...what if you knew somebody, and you were with them and then they got hurt and it's pretty bad, and you wanted to help them because they're going to need all the help they can get… but they said 'No, you aren't going to help,' and you replied, 'But I want to help,' but then you fall asleep and they bring you back home?" Anna finished her monologue without taking a break to breathe.

Gerda raised an eyebrow before taking a deep breath and responding. "Well, Milady, this person, would helping them be dangerous?"

Anna took a moment before nodding slowly while biting her lip. "Kind of."

"Well, this person, if they brought me back home and if they needed help and I offered mine, but it was dangerous to help, I'd say that they must care a lot more about your well-being than they do about theirs. They are noble and selfless."

"But why? Why would they reject it? I don't get it! Everybody else would take the help!" Anna exclaimed.

Gerda gave yet another small smile. "They can be the outcast. They can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice."

"But how would they know if that's the right choice? To put yourself more at risk?"

"My princess, sometimes you don't. You just follow your instincts and your heart."

Anna looked down at her sheets as she let the words from Gerda sink in. "Well, when you put it that way," Anna said.

Gerda nodded and left Anna by herself in the room. She felt something on her head and reached up to get it. Feeling what it was, she took it and observed it. Kristoff's hat. A small smile crept onto her face. She must've been cold and he must've given it to her. He must care, to have done that in the condition he was in. Anna settled herself back under her sheets and rolled onto her side, all the while thinking about the mountain man.

"The right choice," she breathed to herself, playing with Kristoff's hat. She looked out the window to the night sky. "Please, Kristoff, be okay," she said to herself softly before falling back asleep.

* * *

It was late when Kristoff got back to the land of trolls. Not five minutes passed by before he was approached by someone. But instead of a troll, a snowman came up to him.

"Hey Kristoff!" Olaf greeted happily. He waddled over from the young trolls, whom he'd been playing with, to the much-less-than-happy blonde. Kristoff gave a nod in acknowledgement as he and Sven walked past Olaf to find a comfortable place to sleep. Olaf was oblivious to it, though. "Hey, do you know where Anna went? I've been looking everywhere for her," Olaf asked.

Kristoff tensed at the mention of her name. No matter what, he couldn't shake the feeling off. Kristoff shrugged and said, "She left."

"What? She...left?" Olaf asked stunned.

Kristoff nodded, looking everywhere besides the snowman.

"Where?"

"She went back to Arendelle," Kristoff answered very quietly.

"But...she didn't even say bye," Olaf said dejectedly. His usual happy and optimistic mood grew gloomy.

Kristoff closed his eyes, as he could feel his them tearing up, and the empty feeling in his chest come back. He composed himself as best as he could before he spoke again. "Yeah. I, uh, I guess she didn't."

"Why wouldn't she say goodbye to us? I thought we were friends."

"I," Kristoff mustered before clearing his throat to keep the emotions in check, "I, um, I don't know Olaf. I don't know."

Olaf sighed loudly and sadly before waddling back to the younger trolls. Kristoff watched him with a forlorn look in his eyes and swallowing in a depressed manner. "Come on buddy," he whispered to Sven as the two went to find their makeshift beds. As they crawled in, Kristoff took off his tunic and flexed his tired muscles. He saw the fire crystal hanging, and he grabbed it and rubbed it with his thumb. This was the only thing that was keeping him alive right now. Sven grunted and nuzzled Kristoff's arm. Kristoff gave a small smile for the first time all day as he patted his best friend's head. "Yeah, Sven. I know," he said softly. "I know," he repeated. He gave reached into one of his tunic's pockets and fed Sven a carrot all the while patting his nose.

After making sure Sven was asleep, he laid down on his bed and went back to stroking the crystal while looking up at the stars above. "There has to be something out there to help me," he said to himself. There just had to be.

* * *

Elsa stirred in her palace and opened her eyes ever-so-slowly. Her vision was blurry, and her head pounding. She sat up and blinked several times, trying to fix her vision, while supporting herself with one hand and using the other to massage her temple. Stress – so much that it had made her pass out. After she was able to fix her eyesight, she stood up, still rubbing her head.

She tried to remember why she had all that stress, but her mind was cloudy due to pain. It came to her slowly. She remembered the coronation, making the ice palace, and then...Anna. Arguing about a winter in Arendelle. Then she was agitated and she flung a wave of ice around. It hit a man in his chest and he was hurt. Then a giant snowman. As it came back to her, she began to feel all the fear come back in a tidal wave.

"I need to leave," she thought to herself – to get out, to protect everyone from her and her curse. She couldn't take the risk of somebody coming up to her palace and hurting them. Not like that man that was with Anna. But before she could make a move, she heard her creation roar outside.

* * *

A frozen-hearted mountain man looking for salvation and falling deep into his emotions.

A Snow Queen trying to flee.

A princess thinking about her estranged sister and a mountain man.

A prince plotting how to kill a queen and take over the kingdom.

His guards hunting down that queen.

A kingdom trying to survive the eternal winter.

And, overall, an almost quiet, starry night that consumed everybody.

* * *

**Just a few things I wanted to talk about here. Now before y'all get on me, yes I know Anna was a little OOC here with Hans. The reason? I felt like Anna would more or less tell that to Hans because they're "engaged" and she wouldn't want him not to trust her. After all, she still thinks that Hans loves her. So anyway, I got a poll up on my profile that refers to Elsa's situation. I'm a little caught up between letting the guards catch her to take her prisoner or letting her get away. So vote on the poll or tell me via review. So till next time guys.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm not dead! So firstly, I'm soooo sorry it took me almost a month to update. I've had some life troubles and I had rewritten this chapter a whole bunch of times. But with any luck they're all in the past. So here's chapter 4!**

**Disclaimer: Frozen, it's characters and everything related are owned by Disney.**

* * *

Jonathan, alongside Fredrik, stumbled back in a mixture of fear and surprise when they saw a 50-foot snowman come out and roar at them. The other guards stood frozen in place. When they had been ordered to come and return the queen, this was the last thing they had expected. Even if Hans had told Jonathan and Fredrik about it, they still hadn't fully prepare themselves for this. They had weapons to fight human beings, not a giant snowman.

"Leave now!" the giant roared, taking a step forward. The guards took a step back.

But backing away wasn't an option for Fredrik, and he took a step forward. "Get out of our way, monster! We are here to take the Queen back to Arendelle," he said, his voice steady as he pushed away any feeling of fear.

Jonathan couldn't help but smirk a bit. Of course he would, he thought. Fredrik was never one to back down from anything or anyone. If he had to fight to the death, he would do so if it meant completing the orders given. But thankfully, it hadn't ever come to that. Yet. The snowman took another step forward, as did Fredrik. The guards stood back, almost admiring the bravery of Fredrik. Jonathan then took Fredrik's side, somewhat hoping it would inspire the others to do the same. The snowman roared like a hungry lion when he saw him.

"Ah. I was wondering which one of you cowards would step up," Fredrik half-joked.

"Always the bold one, aren't we?" Jonathan responded back with a smirk. He looked up to the giant. "You heard him monster! If you refuse to cooperate, we will have to use force!" Jonathan yelled to it. Both men put their hands on the hilt of their swords, ready to unsheathe them.

"Leave, and don't come back!" the snow giant roared again.

"Very well then," Fredrik said. Both he and Jonathan unsheathed their swords and battle-cried as they charged towards the snowman. Running towards it, they split up and attacked the legs. The monster roared again as it swung its hands. Jonathan ducked just in a time, just avoiding the icicle claws of the monster.

"Come on, cowards!" Jonathan yelled towards the guards, who were just looking on. They looked at one another, shrugged and charged towards the battle. They split and began to attack the legs. It seemed to confuse the snowman for a second but then he began swiping again. While Jonathan and Fredrik were able to dodge all of the snowman's melee attacks, others weren't so lucky. The giant sent six guards flying back into the woods and another six over the cliff to their deaths.

"These are the men that protect Arendelle? It's a mystery why no one has conquered this bloody kingdom!" Jonathan scoffs.

"That it is, my friend," Fredrik responds as he rolls to the side after avoiding another attack from the giant and starts to chop the left leg of the snow giant, as if he were a lumberjack and the leg were a tree trunk. "These men are completely incompetent!"

He delivers a few more blows to the leg, until it is clean off, making the giant struggle to stay up. It balances awkwardly on its lone leg, and starts to swipe and to shoot the icicles claws it had, a desperate attempt at staying alive and fighting off the guards. Jonathan and the few remaining Arendelle guards, which number only four, begin to drive the giant back to the edge of the cliff. They all run towards the leg of the giant and beginning chopping at it, replicating Fredrik's actions. It comes off and the giant falls off the cliff, roaring as it does, before they hear a satisfying 'thud' at the bottom. The Arendelle guards begin to cheer, hugging and high-fiving one another, happy that they were able to keep alive. Jonathan rolls his eyes and walks away muttering "imbeciles" under his breath. Fredrik is waiting for him at the base of the ice castle's staircase as he looks on at the other guards in disdain, shaking his head.

"Look at them," Fredrik says disgusted once Jonathan reaches him. "They're happy and cheerful because they have won a fight reminiscent of a bar scuffle," he scoffs.

"Poor bastards don't know what a real battle is, much less a war. If they ever went in to one, they'd get massacred," Jonathan declares.

"May the Lord have mercy on them and on this horrid kingdom," Fredrik agrees. "If there is anything we have learned about this kingdom, it's that this is an unholy place. I don't believe God would have mercy on such a place," Jonathan says.

"Aye. Their queen is a goddamn witch. I can only wonder about the princess," Fredrik said.

"The only thing unholy about her is her stupidity," Jonathan said.

"Possibly. Now, let's go. The sooner we bring the Queen in, the better. Besides, my balls are freezing," Fredrik admitted.

"Are they now?" Jonathan chuckled.

"I am used to the fighting, but I'm not used to this damned weather," Fredrik remarked.

"That is one thing we can both agree on," Jonathan pats Fredrik on the back heartily, and whistles to the other guards and gets their attention. "Well, I don't mean to interrupt whatever the hell it is you four are doing, but we haven't quite finished off our orders yet," he said in an authoritative tone.

"If it's the same to you, we'd rather wait for you men to bring the queen back. It's not every day you escape death from a giant snow beast, and after all, you two did look the best fighting it," the bulkiest of the guards respond.

"Fucking pathetic," Fredrik muttered to Jonathan.

"They'd get themselves killed anyway. Better like this," Jonathan whispered back.

Fredrik nods and they begin to walk up the staircase with their swords in hand, ready for the snow queen. When they entered the palace, they took a second to look at its beauty. "Well, the Queen has a good imagination," Fredrik whispers quietly. Jonathan nodded in agreement.

"There," Jonathan pointed up to the secondary staircase that leads up to the heart of the palace, "that staircase should lead us right to her."

They go up the first staircase, albeit slipping a few times, and they crept up the secondary stairs. It lead them towards a vast room that was amber colored, a contrast to the icy blue color downstairs. Fredrik points inside toward a moving, regal figure. "There she is."

"Then let's get her."

They walk inside the room and it startles Elsa. Her eyes widen in shock at the sight of the two men. What were they doing in there? How'd they get through? "Please leave me. I-I am not safe," she says taking a few steps back with her hands outstretched in a protective stance.

One of them chuckles. He can't be any older than the age of 30. The man has dark brown hair and hazel eyes and is about six-foot-three. "I'd say. First, you engulf the entire kingdom in a harsh winter in the middle of the summer. Then, you summon a vicious 50-foot snowman that either killed or severely injured the other guards - oh don't worry, they were very clumsy. They kind of deserved it."

The other man smacks his arm. "Enough, Jonathan," he says, his voice deep. He looks to be in his mid-to-late-thirties. His hair is coal colored and his eyes are a light green. His skin is a light tan color, and he looks to be about six-foot even.

"Are you here to kill me?" she asks slowly, readying her hands. She didn't intend to die. Just to distract them long enough to run.

The man known as Jonathan shakes his head with a smile. "That comes soon, don't worry. We're just here to take you back to Arendelle," he says, with a sinister tone in his voice.

"Please. I don't want to hurt any of you," she says, hoping she won't need to use her powers.

"You see, my Queen, the name's Fredrik by the way," now it was the other man talking, "you are coming with us. But we can do this one of two ways. The first option is you come quietly and no one has to get hurt. The second option is you try to resist, forcing myself and Jonathan here to fight back and then you end up getting hurt. But whichever one you choose, you're still coming back to Arendelle."

Elsa began to look back and forth between the men and then began shooting ice, making them run for cover.

"Okay, option two it is, then," one of them yells. Elsa begins to run towards the balcony, but Jonathan was faster and cut her off. She shoots an icicle towards him but he blocks it with his word and it shatters on the floor. "Gotta be quicker than that," he teases.

She sends a wall of ice flying to him. He gets out of the way just in time, but Elsa shot another icicle that catches his left shoulder. He screams in pain and looks at her with the angriest pair of eyes she has ever seen. "You bitch! I'm going to kill you!" he yells. He pulls the icicle, which is covered in blood now, out of his shoulder and launches it at her. She pulls up an ice shield and it blocks the icicle from hitting her. Fredrik runs to tackle her from behind but she sees him and she flings a block of ice at him and it gets him in the forehead sending him to the floor and knocking him out. Jonathan swings his sword and destroys the shield, forcing Elsa to get up and stagger back a few steps. His blood is running freely, and his armor and clothes are getting stained in red.

"Come here!" he roars. He jabs his sword at her but she is able to block it. She summons a few normal sized snowmen with ice swords to attack, and hopefully distract him enough for her to get away. But he demolishes them quickly as his training and experience shows, breaking their swords with his and decapitating them and throwing them to the floor and stabbing them. "Now, where were we?" he says darkly. She send a lot of small icicles towards him and he somehow stretched his body to avoid all of them. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a pity. You can't seem to shake me off," Jonathan says. "Oh well. What can you do?" he shrugged.

Elsa couldn't believe her eyes. She had thrown everything she had at him, yet he was still standing. She takes a deep breath and send wave after wave of icicles at him and wall after wall hoping to get him. He dodged the first wave of icicles, but the second wave cut him up badly. His cheek is gushing blood, and his right thigh had multiple stuck in there. One had cut the back of his left knee. He roars in pain and falls down as his legs unable to support him. He attempted to get up, but he fell down quickly. She looked on in horror at her work, but tried to convince herself that it was out of self-defense. But before she can turn around and take off, she got hit in the back of the head with the butt of a sword and she passed out. "Jesus, she was a handful," Fredrik said, rubbing his forehead where a small bump was forming from the block of ice that had hit him. "Oh, fuck, what happened to you?" he asked hurrying to Jonathan and helping him up. Jonathan threw an arm over Fredrik's shoulder to help support himself. "Nothing," he deadpanned, wincing as they took a step forward.

"I'll get the other guards to bring her, don't worry," Fredrik assured to him. Jonathan nodded and gingerly limped another step forward. When they were able to get out of the palace, Fredrik ordered the other guards to make themselves useful and to retrieve Elsa. They ran into the castle and cuffed her and the strongest of the guards threw her over his shoulder and began to carry her back down to Arendelle, many guards missing and many others injured.

* * *

When they got to back to the castle, they sent a team to recover the injured guards they weren't able to bring, and Fredrik helped Jonathan to the castle's doctor while they put Elsa in the dungeon. Fredrik went to the library to look for Hans. When he found he wasn't there, he asked one of the few servants that was still up.

"Prince Hans is in the study," she informed him.

"Thank you," Fredrik said.

"You're quite welcome," she responded with a wink. Fredrik looked at her with caution before walking to the study. He knocked on the door and waited for a response before walking in and shutting the door behind him. "Ah, hello Fredrik," Hans greeted while taking a sip from his tea.

"Your Majesty," Fredrik said as he limped towards the closest chair.

Hans raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Fredrik assured waved his hand.

"The Queen?" Hans questioned, desperate to know.

"In the dungeon."

A satisfied smile crept onto Hans face. "Good work. I knew I could count on you and Jonathan. Speaking of him, where is he?"

"He's with the doctor. He's injured pretty badly," Fredrik informed.

"Ah, I see. Don't worry, these injuries won't be in vain."

Moments of silence passed before Fredrik got up from his chair to leave but when he reached the door he paused. "Is there something you want to say, Fredrik?" Hans asked. Fredrik shifted his weight from one foot to another. Another silence dwelled upon them, but this one was very uncomfortable.

Fredrik cleared his voice before speaking, "Aren't you going to go kill her now?"

"The Queen? Yes, I'll talk to her later."

"Talk? You said you were going to kill her," Fredrik said surprised.

"I will. But first I'm going to ask her to remove the winter," Hans said going through some of the papers on the desk looking at Arendelle's old treaties and trade routes.

"Ask? What the hell do you mean 'ask'?" Fredrik said walking back to the chair and sitting down.

"I mean I'm going to give her a chance to remove this winter before killing her," Hans said calmly. "I'll kill her in private, don't you worry."

"What happened to a public execution? That's what you wanted. For everyone to see you rid of her," Fredrik was beginning to feel the anger build inside.

"I decided to change it to private. There was no way I was going to be able to execute her publicly without Princess Anna knowing," Hans stated.

"To hell with the princess. I could've killed the queen back at the mountain, couldn't I?" Fredrik's voice began to rise.

Hans looked at him in surprise, "Watch your tone with me. I'm going to be your king."

"But you aren't yet," Fredrik retorted.

Hans decided to ignore that. "To answer your question, yes you could've. But besides, I can't forget about the princess. She's the pawn in my game."

"Oh, so this is all a game to you now?"

"What is wrong with you?" Hans asked sipping his tea.

"Men died out there doing your dirty work!" Fredrik said standing up and slamming his hands on the desk. "No matter if they were terrible, they died following your orders." Fredrik continued, "We were 18 men total when we went over there. Only six of us returned. Six died and another six are in the woods severely injured, and we aren't sure what part of the woods they're in. They could be dead by now for all we know."

"That's what happens out there, Fredrik. Out of everyone, I expected you to know that."

"And I had accepted it. In fact, I didn't care about them. But I didn't know we were sacrificing ourselves for nothing. I had the chance to kill her but instead, I hit her in the back of the head to knock her out and now Jonathan may lose a leg for you!" Fredrik exclaimed pointing his finger in Hans face. Hans smacked it out of his hand and stood up with him.

"Your brother's sacrifice won't be in vain," Hans repeated. "I will kill her. I promise you that. It's just that things have changed slightly."

Fredrik snorted. "Like hell it has."

"When I become king, you and Jonathan will receive everything I have promised. But right now you have to bear with me," Hans said looking him into the eye.

"Bullshit," Fredrik challenged.

"You know I'm a man of my word," Hans said.

"I'm not sure you're even a man yet. More like a boy," Fredrik retorted.

"See it as you may, but I have more power and authority over you. And I'd watch your tone of voice if I were you. You wouldn't want to lose your privileges as a royal guard and walk back to your family in shame, now would you?" Hans threatened, knowing how important being a guard was to him. The men in his family had always been royal guards for generations, protecting the King and Queen of the Southern Isles.

"You bastard. You wouldn't dare," Fredrik challenged.

"Try me," Hans shot back.

They glared at each other but neither dare to move. But after a few moments, Fredrik spoke. "Fine. You better kill her, because if you don't, I will."

"I will kill her. I can tell you that much," Hans said. Fredrik began to walk away to visit Jonathan, but Hans called him back. "Oh, and Fredrik?" He stopped in front of the door again. "Not a word leaves this room," Hans ordered.

"Of course. We wouldn't want your game to be ruined, now would we?" Fredrik mocked.

"That's right," Hans said.

Fredrik walked out the door and shut it loudly, leaving the room shaking a bit. Hans shook his head at the man's attitude but smiled to himself. He had everyone wrapped around his finger, and he could do whatever he pleased with them.

* * *

**Well, I know there wasn't any Kristoff or Anna in here, but trust me this chapter was very important in developing the rest of the story. You'll see... And also in case you didn't notice, Jonathan and Fredrik are brothers. So review, follow, favorite you do you lol. Till next chap guys, peace!**


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